For the Ravens and Joe Flacco, there's no place like home

October 22, 2012|By Jeff Zrebiec, The Baltimore Sun

To a man, the Ravens insist that they don't have an explanation for why the team's offense has played so well at home and so poorly on the road. And as second-year wide receiver Torrey Smith wisely pointed out, if the Ravens knew the cause of the maddening inconsistency, they'd have it fixed by now.

Either way, it's become impossible to ignore and if the Ravens are going to make a run at that elusive Super Bowl, they better figure it out soon. Their post-bye week schedule includes five road contests, three against their divisional foes and their other two versus the San Diego Chargers and Washington Redskins.

In fairness to the Ravens, they have played in three pretty difficult venues: Philadelphia, Kansas City and Houston. The Chiefs are obviously not a good football team, but Arrowhead Stadium is still a tough place to play.

While the Ravens' banged-up defense has struggled pretty much everywhere this season, their offensive home/road splits remain impossible to explain. Just consider the following: